United We Stand
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and ninety-six: After Sue revealed she knew about the pregnancy, the club drifted off... but then came back together.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eigth cycle, and ninth cycle._

_Now comes the tenth cycle. And since that feels like it should be special, this is what I'm doing: Cycle 10 will feature my top 15 of some favorite things from Glee. Characters, ships, friends... It will be daily ficlets for numbers 15 down to 2, but number 1 will be a 7-chapter story :) Here we go!_  
_**Coming in at number nine!**_

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**"United We Stand"  
New Directions**

After Coach Sylvester had dropped that bomb on Quinn, of her secret's soon-to-be not so secret status, it had sent shockwaves that knocked them all down. It wasn't their struggle, but in their slowly forming bond, it was becoming just as much a part of them.

They had all splintered into smaller groups on their way out of Glee practice. Rachel had made a beeline for Jacob, intent on grilling him. Quinn had been unable to get very far before she'd crumbled tearfully into Finn's arms. He held her, comforted her.

Tina and Mercedes had parted from Artie and Kurt to make a bathroom stop before they went anywhere. As they'd pushed the door, they'd come face to face with Brittany and Santana. They all stopped at once, unsure how to proceed.

"Okay, before this gets awkward…" Santana motioned for them to step aside. The girls rolled their eyes and did so. Santana held out her arm with a smirk and Brittany took it, waving to the other two as they went by. They'd just made it out into the hall when Brittany stopped Santana. "Yes, we'll get slushies," she promised.

"No…" she shook her head, then paused. "Yes… No… Y…" Santana stopped her, and she got back on track. "I have an idea," she whispered. Santana waited to hear. If there was one person who would listen, it would be her. Two minutes later, they were entering the bathroom once again, finding Tina and Mercedes at the sinks.

"What do you want now?" Mercedes sighed. The cheerleaders shared a look before Santana nodded.

"We want to help Quinn."

After a stop at their lockers, Artie and Kurt were on their way out, parting ways just as Kurt's phone rang. "Mercedes, hi…" he started, just as she asked if he was still with Artie. Kurt looked around, then dashed to catch up with him and get him to wait. He listened as Mercedes spoke, trying to silently relay the information to Artie at the same time. There was some miscommunication at first, but finally he understood, right in time to spot Mike and Matt heading out.

"Wait," Artie called as he rolled after them. Once they stopped, he told them what Kurt had worked to tell him. They were in, and they helped by going off to find Puck.

That made nine of them, leaving three to lock in. Kurt went back in, looking for them. He found Rachel first. As soon as he'd explained what they had in mind, she'd smiled and said she was in. Now there were two. They were still standing where they'd been standing. Quinn wasn't crying so much anymore, though she wasn't ready to let go of Finn yet. Neither Rachel nor Kurt really knew who should approach the pair, so they went as one. They didn't want to come right out and say what had motivated this activity, didn't want Quinn to feel she was forcing them.

"Hey, guys," Rachel started slowly. Finn looked up, Quinn turned up her eyes. Her face showed the traces of the tears she'd barely managed to pull back. This gave both Rachel and Kurt some pause. "We, uh…" Rachel looked to Kurt.

"We thought about doing a new number right now… If you guys are up for it…" he took over. Finn looked down to Quinn, not wanting to decide for her. She finally extracted herself from his arms, wiping carefully at her eyes.

"What kind of number?"

"Kurt and Rachel shared a quick look. They hadn't really thought that far yet. Rachel thought about a song through, something she felt would answer to what it was they had set out to do.

"Keep Holding On," she told them. All at once it seemed Finn understood what was going on, while Quinn nodded – she was in. As they made their way to join the others, Kurt made covert work of texting to Mercedes the song they were to perform, knowing they would be able to start preparing already. Once that was done, he gave Rachel a confirmation look. It was about as much as went on for the rest of the small group's journey to the auditorium. No one really knew what to say.

As Kurt had predicted, they arrived to find everyone already at work. Brittany, Mike, and Matt were working on choreography; Tina, Mercedes, and Santana stood together, discussing clothes, from what they could tell; Artie and Puck were seeing to instruments, until the band arrived.

When they saw the last four had arrived, they motioned for them to join in. They looked to Quinn, who seemed relieved to have something else to focus on, thanks to the whole club.

THE END


End file.
